Incorporation by Reference
The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 10-290436 filed on Oct. 13, 1998 including the specification, drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an instrument panel having an integral airbag door portion. In particular, the invention relates to an instrument panel having an integral airbag door portion for an airbag unit that is installed in a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
An instrument panel construction, in which an airbag door portion of an automotive passenger seat side airbag unit is integrated, is known. Such an arrangement is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-211831.
A known instrument panel 100 having an integral airbag door portion is shown in FIG. 8. An instrument panel insert 102 has a protruded portion 104 that is formed along the peripheral edge of an opening of the instrument panel insert 102. An upper surface of the protruded portion 104 serves as a first seal surface 104A for preventing leakage of a foaming agent during a forming process. A door insert 106 has a protruded portion 108 that extends around and outwardly of the first seal surface 104A of the instrument panel insert 102. A lower surface of the protruded portion 108 serves as a second seal surface 108A. A plurality of engaging ribs 110 are formed on a lower surface of a rear end portion of the door insert 106, that is, an end portion of the door insert 106 located rearward with respect to a vehicle body. Each rib 110 has a generally dogleg shape in a side view. A distal end adjacent portion 110A of each rib 110 has an inclined surface on which the distal end adjacent portion 110A is engaged with the peripheral edge portion of the opening portion 102A of the instrument panel insert 102.
In an instrument panel with the integral airbag door portion, a plurality of engaging ribs 120 may be formed on lower surfaces of right and left side end portions of the door insert 106, that is, opposite end portions thereof, in the directions of the width of a vehicle body, as shown in FIG. 9. Each rib 120 has a generally "L " shape in a side view. A distal end portion 120A of each rib 120 is engaged with an edge portion of the opening 102A of the instrument panel insert 102. Therefore, when the inflator of the airbag unit is operated, the distal end portions 120A of the ribs 120 formed on the door insert 106 push up the peripheral edge portion of the opening 102A of the instrument panel insert 102 with high load in a deploying direction, as indicated by arrow S in FIG. 9. Hence, a peripheral portion 102B of the opening 102A of the instrument panel insert 102 must be constructed to withstand the great load applied thereto during airbag deployment. This is accomplished by reinforcing the peripheral edge portion 102B of the opening 102A of the instrument panel insert 102 with a reinforcement plate 112, such as an iron or steel plate, or the like. This plate is shown by a two-dot broken line in FIG. 9.